While Strike ate Singapore noodles one-handed, he examined Lula Landry’s laptop, which lay open on the table, beside his beer.
The Cuckoo’s Calling, Robert Galbraith
Strike ends up at Wong Kei, a popular Chinese restaurant on Wardour Street, twice during the Lula Landry case. The second time it’s to meet Spanner the brother of an old friend who has a first-class degree in computing and the ability to get into Lula’s laptop. He is also, Strike realises, an excellent vehicle to spread the word about his break-up with Charlotte. He’ll pass on the information to Strike’s friends without a painful interrogation.
Wardour Street was once popular with antique dealers and furniture makers, then musicians and film and TV professionals, but this part of Wardour Street belongs to Chinatown, with red lanterns swinging overhead between Shaftesbury Avenue and Lisle Street. The building Wong Kei now occupies was designed for Willy Clarkson, a costumier and wig maker, who made disguises for police detectives, Virginia Wolfe and was suspected of setting fire to some of his properties for the insurance money. Gerrard Street, just opposite Wong Kei, attracted a significant Chinese population after World War II, and by 1970 its reputation as the cultural centre of Chinese London was established. In the 1980s, Chinese gates and a pavilion were added and Gerrard Street pedestrianised and lovers of Chinese cuisine, medicine and culture flock to the area.
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